Amy Ruttan

I have finally found the time to become acquainted with this show. I must say I am most enthralled by it. First because of the fantastic history, it’s a wonderful period and secondly because of the hot guys.

 

Of course, our dear departed King Henry VIII was not that … well you can see for yourself.

 

There are quite a few historical inaccuracies in The Tudors, but who cares with hotties like Rhys Meyers and Cavil to ogle? Still The Tudor period is one I have long been fascinated with so this show was like manna from heaven for me, and I have been so inspired to write something in this time period or perhaps before or just after Henry VIII.

 

Henry VIII married his first wife Catherine of Aragon after his brother, Arthur succumbed to the ill fated sweating sickness. This same disease claimed Henry VIII’s illegitimate son via his mistress Blount. enry Fitzroy was seventeen, not a child as was portrayed in The Tudors. In fact Henry Fitzroy married a Boelyn.

 

Before Arthur died it was expected that he would take over as king. Henry prepared for a life in the church. CHURCH!! How fascinating, especially in light of the fact he was responsible for separating the Church of England from the Papal Bull in Rome.

 

Catherine of Aragon was only 6 years older than Henry. In fact it is believed that at the time he married Anne Boelyn he was actually 42 years of age. So that line “We are both young …” what he says to Anne after the birth of

Elizabeth is inaccurate given life spans back then.

 

Catherine was separated from her daughter Mary, and died, sent away, shunned and forgiving her legal husband for marrying Anne. It was believed that Anne Boelyn poisoned Catherine, because Catherine had a black heart when she was opened up. It is believed that Catherine died of Heart Cancer. Something that was not really understood back then, hell they believed in witchcraft and if you committed suicide you’d go straight to hell.

 

Anne Boelyn, Henry’s second wife, mother of

Elizabeth the first, and the most famous was no great beauty. Instead she had wit, an extremely intelligent mind and was aggressive. Her failure to bring a son to King Henry was her downfall, coupled with her extreme anxiety. I like in the series how she talks about Cromwell losing his head, a portent of what was to come perhaps? Indeed it was. It is now discussed that Anne Boelyn may have had Rhesus disease. Which means Anne is a negative blood type and that Elizabeth was a positive, thereby the antibodies that

Elizabeth left in her mother would attack other fetuses that were not the same blood type as her, this I find very plausible.  I suffer from this same condition. My daughter had positive blood and I was given a shot after her birth, then I was given a shot again when I became pregnant with my son. I did not have to have a shot after my son was born because he was a negative blood type. I’ll still have to get a shot though this time around.

 

Also Henry VIII could be blamed as well, as it’s the man’s contribution that determines the sex of child.

 

C’est la vie. Anne Boelyn lost her head, as did Smeaton, Norris, Brerton and George Boelyn. In fact George’s wife was the instigator in his downfall, but there was no proof that he preferred men to women, or was so disliked. In fact according to documents George was considered quite a charming and agreeable fellow at court. As for dear old Daddy Boelyn, there are rumors that he was out hunting with the King when his daughter Anne was beheaded, and Cranmer was not present at Anne’s beheading. He was walking, and when he heard the trumpet sound he fell to his knees and wept.

 

 

Henry had three more wives, and I leave those little tidbits for later because this post is getting too rambly. Just think of the six wives as this Abandoned, Beheaded, Died, Annulled, Beheaded and Lived.

 

 

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 7th, 2008 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Fun Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.